[CHUCKP]

(Guess it's time to start a fresh topic instead of putting everything in my initial thread!)

Anyway, the above raid on Rabaul in October 1943 is one of the most exciting and thrilling of the Pacific War.

Here is a VERY well done article on it that is worth reading if you have an interest in this subject matter:


http://findarticles....08/ai_n9458149/

Now, I would LOVE to fly this mission as a B-25 pilot after reading so much about it...

Any chance of that happening?

Chuck

[Gunny]

Why Yes Chuck, there is. VMF-124 has been known to load up a PBJ (Navalized B-25) and go mess with Japanese shipping. Skip bombing is one of our favorite tactics there.

[The Dude]

Gunny, on Jul 1 2009, 05:04 PM, said:

Why Yes Chuck, there is. VMF-124 has been known to load up a PBJ (Navalized B-25) and go mess with Japanese shipping. Skip bombing is one of our favorite tactics there.

And here is an article Gunny wrote for our squad on that very subject: Tactics: Skip Bombing.

Which reminds me! We have a whole website dedicated to our VMF-124 squadron. We don't use it anymore, but it's a fantastic repository of historic and instructional material. Here's a link to our handbook: VMF-124 Pilot Handbook.

And I just rediscoverd this After Action Report, complete with playable track file, of a skip-bombing mission Cowboy and I ran: Fun with Skip-Bombing.

Finally, and this is just for fun, take a look at this compilation of in-game gun camera footage I created a couple years ago. The footage is from our actual coop missions.





It's funny, we've been doing this for so long we forget all the things we've created over the years.

[Gunny]

Damn I wrote that? that actually sounds like I know I'm talking about.

[CHUCKP]

I will check out that website!

Maybe someone can find a game that includes a raid on Rabaul which features the B-25s as modded out by infamous Pacific Theater "One Man Airforce" Paul "Pappy" Gunn (is that a cartoon name or what..but it was his REAL name...I have a copy of his Biography!).

The Army Air Force Mitchells in his outfit were modded with up several forward facing 50 caliber machine guns in place of the clear nose section.


General Kenney was especially pleased with the results and ended up calling these planes his "Commerce Detroyers".....when all those 50s were trained on a Japanese ship at the proper convergence point, the superstructure would literally "melt" under the onslaught.

There are a few grainy and blurred gun camera shots of the "CDs" in action but I have always wanted to see the power of these planes more clearly....JUST like could be done in a PC game environment!

Eventually, North American Aviation got the word and started building B-25s with the massive 50 Caliber array right at the factory (eventually being produced with up to 14 total forward facing 50s: 8 in the nose itself, 4 in pods of 2 on each side of the nose and 2 in the top turret)

...Pappy flew back to the Statest to supervise the new models and make sure that the "Manufacturer" got it right and built the planes similar to how he had modded them!!!

Chuck

PS: The Parafragging of enemy airfields with mini chutes slowing down the bomb explosions to allow the bombers to get clear is another of Pappy's ideas (although perhaps not completely original). Then there is the story about the unfortunate attempt at installing a 75MM Cannon in a 25...that is also a good one.....but that is for another time...

[The Dude]

Our own Jim "Twitch" Tittle did an historic piece on the B-25 Mitchell that includes a section on Paul "Pappy" Gunn: But Can it Strafe?.

As for getting a mission based on that raid over Rabul, I've read the article you linked to and it won't be difficult to make a similar mission from scratch. All I can say, however, is that the game's AAA is a lot harder to fool than the real Japanese gunners who were i) not only lousy shots, but ii) also blinded by the smoke from the parafrags they dropped.

[Schatten]

The guys that made the Slot map for Il-2 1946 had been working on a Rabaul one too, and I saw a week or so ago they were also working on some new B-25 strafers, the ones that Gunn ginned up before the Air Force decided to get actual factory kits to convert them. They also will supposedly have the proper number of parafrags for the loadout. AKA: A Metric Sh*tton.

I've been sick as a dog and am going to go crash now again, but if you go to www.allaircraftarcade.com and look through the WIP Maps and Planes threads there should be stuff on both the new map and the new B-25s.

I actually liked flying those skip bombing missions, how low can we go...pretty damn low. I'll never forget the Skipper flying as my gunner and informing me that the next time I flew under the ship's rigging he'd shoot me himself... Good times.

[The Dude]

Schatten, on Jul 1 2009, 08:48 PM, said:

I'll never forget the Skipper flying as my gunner and informing me that the next time I flew under the ship's rigging he'd shoot me himself... Good times.

I remember that moment. I laughed so hard when he said that, I nearly schatten'd my drawers my own self. (and no, that's not how Schatten got his nickname).

[CHUCKP]

Here is a pix of my VERY OWN B-25!

Chuck

PS: Now if I could only wave a magic wand over it and have it go from 1/48 scale to FULL SIZE!!!

[The Dude]

Our own Stans did an excellent review of "Briefing Time" B-25 for Microsoft's Flight Simulator: MS Flight Sim 2004 Add-On: Mid-Atlantic Air Museum's B-25J Mitchell "Briefing Time".

Stans even did a video, but I can't seem to find it at the moment. Here's another video:

[Schatten]

Y'all know my feelings about MS Flight Simulator, but in case you forgot...



Bombs!! You can't have an air raid without bombs!!!

Next you'll be telling me they're parachuting murderers into the alfalfa fields near Pomona or something...

[The Dude]

Schatten, on Jul 6 2009, 05:06 AM, said:

Y'all know my feelings about MS Flight Simulator, but in case you forgot...



Bombs!! You can't have an air raid without bombs!!!

Next you'll be telling me they're parachuting murderers into the alfalfa fields near Pomona or something...

Yeah, MSFS is a non-starter for me, too. No guns. No point.

[Gunny]

I seem to recall being very calm when I said that to.

[Schatten]

Gunny, on Jul 6 2009, 10:20 AM, said:

I seem to recall being very calm when I said that to.

Of course ya were calm you knew we were in no real danger whatsoever with me at the controls...

[Gunny]

I believe "Courts Martial" and my having you "Commisioned" was probably mentioned also.

Hey speaking of track files and all, Doug have you still got that one where we flew a Pearl Harbor reenactment and flew SBDs in to Pearl? Rick had some un-kind things to say about me from the back-seat of the Dauntless cause he couldn't get a shot in edgewise. We had audio of that to, which was a hoot to listen to.

[The Dude]

Gunny, on Jul 6 2009, 01:56 PM, said:

I believe "Courts Martial" and my having you "Commisioned" was probably mentioned also.

Hey speaking of track files and all, Doug have you still got that one where we flew a Pearl Harbor reenactment and flew SBDs in to Pearl? Rick had some un-kind things to say about me from the back-seat of the Dauntless cause he couldn't get a shot in edgewise. We had audio of that to, which was a hoot to listen to.

I have every track file from day 1, but finding them is the trick since they are all just saved with numbers instead of descriptive names. I could, with some time, find it eventually.

Who has the audio recording? That I know I do not have.

Wasn't that also the mission where Stag gave me supreme $hit for jinking too much while he was trying to shoot from the rear gunner's seat? Now that was hilarious.

[Gunny]

Yeah, that was the one. I forget how many kills I got in the SBD that day, but that was a good time.

[Schatten]

4 you got 4.

I nearly puked all over my keyboard, but you got four kills.

Staggers and I really need to get some manner of payback for that...